You have a very solid low value car. This gives you the freedom to do anything you like and you won't kill the value. If this was my car, I would strip it down to the frame and do a resto mod.

Keep that motor and if the rest of the driveline is good, you may want to keep that as well. A TH350 or 400 would work wonderfully in that car btw.

Add disk brakes and suspension upgrades.

The interior is shot so I would have the seats done, get a carpet kit, so on. Clean it up as close to stock as you can get. I would also add the hood with dual inlets and the hood tach. That would be a nice upgrade and will have a factory appearance as well.

Red is a nice color but given that you can do anything you want to this car, I would change it over to blue, black or something a little more aggressive.

No stripes needed on this car. It looks beautiful as it sits.

Get a nice set of stock looking wheels like others have mentioned.

This is a great car for a project though. Do you mind telling me about how much you grabbed it for?